Effects of ASMR on mental fatigue recovery revealed by EEG power and brain network analysis
IntroductionMental fatigue, resulting from prolonged cognitive tasks or sleep deprivation, significantly impacts safety and performance, particularly in high-risk environments. However, effective intervention methods are limited, highlighting the urgent need for new approaches to alleviate mental fa...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1619424/full |
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| author | Yueguang Si Yu Sun Yu Sun Yu Sun Kuijun Wu Lingyun Gao Lingyun Gao Sujie Wang Mengru Xu Xuchen Qi |
| author_facet | Yueguang Si Yu Sun Yu Sun Yu Sun Kuijun Wu Lingyun Gao Lingyun Gao Sujie Wang Mengru Xu Xuchen Qi |
| author_sort | Yueguang Si |
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| description | IntroductionMental fatigue, resulting from prolonged cognitive tasks or sleep deprivation, significantly impacts safety and performance, particularly in high-risk environments. However, effective intervention methods are limited, highlighting the urgent need for new approaches to alleviate mental fatigue. This study explores the effectiveness of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) as a novel intervention for alleviating mental fatigue.MethodsA within-subject design was employed in this work, where 28 healthy young subjects (M/F = 17/11, age = 21.82 ± 0.37 years) were requested to perform a continuous 30 min sustained attention task (named No-Break session) and a 30 min task with a 4-min mid-task ASMR break (named ASMR-Break session) at a counterbalanced order. The immediate effect and general effect of ASMR were quantitatively assessed on behavioral performance and EEG characteristics.ResultsBehaviorally, only significant immediate effect was revealed as showing in reduced reaction time. Further interrogation of brain dynamics showed complex patterns of spatio-spectrum alterations and an interaction in small-world metric in theta band. Specifically, the ASMR intervention prevented an increase in small-worldness, and the correlation between changes in small-worldness and reaction times diminished after the intervention.DiscussionIn sum, this preliminary investigation provides insight into ASMR's neural mechanisms and suggests it may help attenuate fatigue. Further research in larger, more diverse samples will be necessary to confirm its utility for mental fatigue management in real-world settings. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d22fc3ef5e5449568cdccc5081bd1a1a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj-art-d22fc3ef5e5449568cdccc5081bd1a1a2025-08-20T03:30:23ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612025-07-011910.3389/fnhum.2025.16194241619424Effects of ASMR on mental fatigue recovery revealed by EEG power and brain network analysisYueguang Si0Yu Sun1Yu Sun2Yu Sun3Kuijun Wu4Lingyun Gao5Lingyun Gao6Sujie Wang7Mengru Xu8Xuchen Qi9Shaoxing People's Hospital (Shaoxing Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine), Shaoxing, ChinaThe State Key Laboratory for Brain-Computer Intelligence, and the Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education of China, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Neurosurgery, Shaoxing People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, ChinaCollege of Mathematical Medicine, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, ChinaThe Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education of China, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaThe School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, ChinaHenan Key Laboratory of Brain Science and Brain Computer Interface Technology, Zhengzhou, ChinaThe Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education of China, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaThe Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education of China, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaThe Department of Neurosurgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, ChinaIntroductionMental fatigue, resulting from prolonged cognitive tasks or sleep deprivation, significantly impacts safety and performance, particularly in high-risk environments. However, effective intervention methods are limited, highlighting the urgent need for new approaches to alleviate mental fatigue. This study explores the effectiveness of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) as a novel intervention for alleviating mental fatigue.MethodsA within-subject design was employed in this work, where 28 healthy young subjects (M/F = 17/11, age = 21.82 ± 0.37 years) were requested to perform a continuous 30 min sustained attention task (named No-Break session) and a 30 min task with a 4-min mid-task ASMR break (named ASMR-Break session) at a counterbalanced order. The immediate effect and general effect of ASMR were quantitatively assessed on behavioral performance and EEG characteristics.ResultsBehaviorally, only significant immediate effect was revealed as showing in reduced reaction time. Further interrogation of brain dynamics showed complex patterns of spatio-spectrum alterations and an interaction in small-world metric in theta band. Specifically, the ASMR intervention prevented an increase in small-worldness, and the correlation between changes in small-worldness and reaction times diminished after the intervention.DiscussionIn sum, this preliminary investigation provides insight into ASMR's neural mechanisms and suggests it may help attenuate fatigue. Further research in larger, more diverse samples will be necessary to confirm its utility for mental fatigue management in real-world settings.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1619424/fullmental fatigueautonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR)psychomotor vigilance task (PVT)mental fatigue recoveryfunctional brain connectivity |
| spellingShingle | Yueguang Si Yu Sun Yu Sun Yu Sun Kuijun Wu Lingyun Gao Lingyun Gao Sujie Wang Mengru Xu Xuchen Qi Effects of ASMR on mental fatigue recovery revealed by EEG power and brain network analysis Frontiers in Human Neuroscience mental fatigue autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) mental fatigue recovery functional brain connectivity |
| title | Effects of ASMR on mental fatigue recovery revealed by EEG power and brain network analysis |
| title_full | Effects of ASMR on mental fatigue recovery revealed by EEG power and brain network analysis |
| title_fullStr | Effects of ASMR on mental fatigue recovery revealed by EEG power and brain network analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of ASMR on mental fatigue recovery revealed by EEG power and brain network analysis |
| title_short | Effects of ASMR on mental fatigue recovery revealed by EEG power and brain network analysis |
| title_sort | effects of asmr on mental fatigue recovery revealed by eeg power and brain network analysis |
| topic | mental fatigue autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) mental fatigue recovery functional brain connectivity |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1619424/full |
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